


Motor Mouth

by Spoon888



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Humiliation, Kinda, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Megatron being a Jerk, Starscream Can't Lie, Truth Serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 04:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15428916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon888/pseuds/Spoon888
Summary: A rough landing leads to Starscream developing an unfortunate glitch. One that not only prevents him from telling lies, but from omitting certain embarrassing truths as well.





	Motor Mouth

**Author's Note:**

> Someone asked for "mild" angst and I think I failed miserably but I tried and that's what counts.

Starscream hit the ground with a splash and skid, his fall broken by mud and filthy water. It flooded his vents, sunk into his seams. He lifted his helm with a snarl of disgust, slipping in it when he turned to scowl at what had caused his fall.

Only to see it coming right at him.

"Look out!" Skywarp cried, falling without control.

Starscream yelled, throwing his arms out to shield himself. Skywarp landed on top of him with a clang and splat, mud flying. Starscream felt his helm snap back and slam against a concealed rock. His optics rolled in his helm.

"Thanks Screamer." Skywarp breathed in his audial, then rolled off him, fairly uninjured from his cushioned fall. "That would have been a nasty."

Starscream spluttered around his mouthful of mud, sporting a painfully crooked wing and a dented helm. He pushed himself upright.

"That _hurt_!" He snarled, flinging a servo full of sodden dirt at Skywarp and splattering him across the face. "This is revolting!"

Skywarp wiped it away and then splattered him back.

"Get a grip, Screamer," Skywarp dragged himself to his pedes. "It's only mud."

Starscream rubbed his aching helm, "You injured me," he hissed.

"The _ground_ injured you," Skywarp rolled his optics. "Stop being such a sparkling. C'mon, get up, before Megatron sees you slacking in the middle of the raid. You want him to slag you?"

"No, I don't want to be slagged," Starscream muttered resentfully. The ground swam as he stood, "And I am not slacking..."

By the time they'd trekked their way back to the front lines of the fight, a retreat was already in effect. Megatron's mood was thunderous as a result.

"Starscream!" Megatron barked when he saw him, sneering at his soiled frame. "Is this what you were doing instead of commanding your seekers? Wallowing in the filth?!"

"Yes, of course I was! Look at me!" Starscream shouted before his processor could compose a suitably sarcastic defence. Megatron's optics brightened in annoyance. He quickly tried to correct himself. "It's- I mean- the mud is _everywhere_."

"Don't sass me, seeker," Megatron growled, taking a menacing step forwards. "I want to know what you were doing that was so important it took precedent over the success of this raid!"

Starscream knew from experience that he was about two wrong responses away from earning a good hard smack.

"I couldn't care less about the success of your half-baked plot!" he announced against his own sense of self-preservation. "In fact, I frequently revel in their failures!"

Megatron's glower turned murderous, and Starscream shrank away, "I didn't want to say that!"

He had been optimistic in his estimation of Megatron's patience, and the journey back to base was considerably more difficult with two dented wings.

 

* * *

 

Starscream felt... different as he waited his turn for repairs. He was barely listening to Skywarp blathering on besides him.

"-ignoring me because you're fragged off, but it wasn't even my fault really, Screamer. Are you still mad?"

Starscream caught the tail end of his nattering. He shook his suspicious thoughts aside and scowled at his trine-mate. "No, I'm not mad at you. I just wanted you to think I was so you'd give me more attention."

Skywarp blinked.

And Starscream realised what he'd just said. He checked around to make sure no one had overheard as he stuttered, "I- I- only want your attention because I care about you so - _so_ -!"

He forcibly bit down on his own glossa. _That_ had not been what he'd wanted to say either. Skywarp's optics had become impossibly bright.

"Screamer," he whispered, leaning in, "Are you feeling alright?"

"No!" Starscream snapped, because _obviously_. "Something is very wrong with my processor-to-vocaliser filter and _now_ I feel emotionally vulnerable."

Skywarp's shocked face softened slightly as he cooed, "Aw, Screamer-"  
  
"Don't express sympathy for me, I am embarrassed!"

"You're a lot of things today." Skywarp nodded firmly.

Starscream clapped his servos to his mouth, fearful of what his reply to that would be. It was like someone else was controlling his vocaliser. No- it was like someone had cracked the encryption on all his emotionally repressed files and was letting them infect the rest of his processor like a virus, spilling from his mouth like word-vomit.

"Hey Hook!" Skywarp was up out of his seat and shouldering through the organised line of damaged Decepticons to get to the front. "I think Screamer's having a glitching fit!"

Servos still slapped over his mouth, Starscream found himself nodding in agreement. He nearly cramped his neck cables trying to forcibly stop himself.

Oh Primus. It wasn't just vocal.

 

* * *

 

  
There wasn't a lot of entertainment at the bottom of the ocean in a half-drowned dilapidating warship, so if word got around that someone was suffering from an 'interesting' ailment, it usually gathered an audience.

Not that Skywarp had meant to tell everyone. He'd just... not used an inside voice.

Still, they hadn't had anything _this_ good since Bruticus had stepped on a minivan and gotten it stuck on his pede, which had been plenty funny enough even without Bruticus hobbling awkwardly to the medbay while the stupid vehicle's car alarm wailed in dying desperate blares.

The ten minutes they had before Hook spoiled the fun by deactivating Starscream's vocaliser was well spent asking him all manner of stupid, private questions and Skywarp was supremely disappointed when his question of "first crush?" was interrupted by Hook flicking the switch before Starscream could do much more than turn bright red and say, "M-"

"Hoo- _ooook_!" Skywarp whined, throwing his arms down dramatically. The sentiment was echoed by a chorus of interested voices behind him. "That was a good one. Turn it back on!"

Starscream pointed at Hook and then drew line across his throat.

"He says he'll kill me and he can't lie," Hook looked at Skywarp. "So, no."

 

* * *

 

"What good is a commander that can't give orders?" Megatron announced hauntingly, standing pompously over Starscream with his servos on his hips and his nose in the air.

Hook twiddled his thumbs. "It's a potential security risk, sir."

"Then he doesn't leave the base." Megatron decided. He levelled a digit at Starscream. "Grounded."

Starscream made a vulgar gesture.

"Turn it back online." Megatron ignored him and ordered Hook, tone leaving no room for argument as he strode off.

"Sorry, Screamer." Hook murmured, and flicked his vocaliser online again.

"Don't call me that nickname, it hurts my feelings." He said regretfully.

Hook cringed with secondhand embarrassment.

 

* * *

 

A simple enough solution to the current problem was just to remain silent. If he ignored any attempts at making conversation, he couldn't be manipulated into revealing damning information.

"Glitch gone?" Skywarp asked, plonking himself down on the bench beside him.

"No," Starscream snapped before he could stop himself. Panicked attempts at shutting up were rapidly thwarted by error messages. He felt compelled to continue. "They're still working on the problem and Megatron won't even grant me the dignity of being allowed to hide away until a solution has been found."

He slammed his fist into the table out of frustration. "And I wish I could just _shut up_."

Skywarp whistled low, looking particularly interested. "That's not like you. Don't you love the sound of your own voice?"

"I do. It makes me feel important."

"Tell me something I don't know." Skywarp snorted.

'Tell Skywarp something he didn't know' was suddenly an _order_. Starscream could do nothing to prevent it. It came up; one of the most private pieces of information he had tucked away just jumped readily to the tip of his glossa for him to answer Skywarp's obviously rhetorical question-

"I listen to old recordings of Megatron's rally speeches to get to recharge."

 _No_!

"Whu-?" Skywarp squinted, then his optics lit up brighter than the solar flare, a grin splitting his face, "What!?"

"His voice is just so soothing - _No_ , don't make me repeat it!" Starscream wheezed, claws carving grooves into the table. "I didn't want you to know! I don't want _anyone_ to know!"

Skywarp had started laughing, and looked ready to start pointing too, just to add insult to injury. Starscream grabbed his wing and yanked him in.

"If you tell a single spark I swear by the Unmaker I'll fly you to the Autobots and _leave you there_!" Skywarp was still smiling. So Starscream shook him and reminded him, "And that's a promise I will keep. You know I can't lie."

Skywarp wiped the smile away and replaced it with a rather constipated expression. The amusement lingered in his optics when he asked, "So uh... What else don't I know?"

He clearly had no self preservation, just as Starscream had no self control.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Skywarp was 'sworn to secrecy' so it was only a matter of time before the entire planet knew his deepest darkest secrets. 

Not only was he unable to lie or bend the truth, but even something as simple as omission was beyond him now. It was like he'd been infected by some sort of human 'Asimov Law' virus that overrode his own sense of free will. Some sort of residual slave coding perhaps? Whatever it was, it left a bad taste in his mouth. 

Since he was confined to base anyway, he might as well hide in his private quarters. Damn the consequences. The chances of Megatron taking time out of his own busy schedule to chase him out anyway were slim to none.

Except fortune was not on his side.

The doorcom chimed, and thinking it was the same lackey he'd ordered to bring him fresh fuel every shift change, he opened it unthinkingly.

Megatron filled the doorway.

"Starscream." Megatron rumbled passively.

"I don't want you here." He said automatically. Then grimaced. Then winced.

Megatron blinked slowly, like he was actively trying to stow his temper.

"Still glitching I see." His tone wasn't light. He glared, "How are you feeling?"

Worst. Possible. Question. To ask.

Starscream tried to suppress it as long as he could, mouthing at air, "I'm... not... _good_..." He managed, sounding like an illiterate bit-brain.

Megatron listened patiently, helm titling with interest, waiting for more.

Starscream felt his face pulling all sorts of weird expressions as he tried, and failed, to mask his emotions, "I am .. stressed. Frustrated." He scowled, "Tired. A little aroused."

Megatron blinked, and Starscream's tank flip-flopped.

"Now I feel nauseous." He rambled. "I didn't want to say that."

"Understandably." Megatron agreed lightly, and -and he was making fun of him!

"What have you come for?!" Starscream demanded before he could stop himself. Neither his word choice or tone was doing him any favours. "This is you blatantly taking advantage of my situation!"

"I came to check on you." Megatron said calmly.

"I don't believe you. You don't care about me." Starscream snapped, and bit his lip, "You _don't_."

"Don't I?" Megatron smirked like he was playing a game.

"Don't get my hopes up."

Megatron's optical ridges shot up.

Starscream nearly screamed. "Stop talking to me! Go away!"

Megatron held a servo up, admitting defeat. "Alright, I came to inform you that Shockwave is sending the engineers some updated equipment. In which case, It should be fairly easy to repair your glitch."

"Oh, thank Primus." Starscream deflated, "I can't live like this."

"It's a shame." Megatron shrugged, amused. "I was rather enjoying you like this."

"Don't look at me like that," Starscream sneered, "It's turning me on."

Megatron started. Starscream punched the key pad to shut the door in his face.

 

* * *

 

"What's your favourite colour?" Skywarp asked.

"Red." Starscream glared. "If the only way I can have any company at all without embarrassing myself is by answering inane questions I'd rather- I'd-"

He wanted to say he'd rather be alone, but apparently that wasn't true. He folded his arms and seethed.

"Stupid glitch."

"Just a few more days," Thundercracker soothed, digits tapping the table out of boredom, "Who's your best friend?"

He shared a glance with Skywarp at that, clearly thinking the competition was between the two of them. Joke was on him though. Starscream didn't have a 'best friend' because he wasn't an infantile Autobot.

"Skyfire." He answered, and then felt a crippling mix of sadness and frustration.

Thundercracker and Skywarp looked between each other awkwardly.

"Uh, um. How about... What colour is the sky?" Skywarp forced a smile.

"That's a stupid question." Starscream scowled, "The sky is a dynamic system. It changes with time and context, varies depending on weather, pollution, and light."

Skywarp blinked at him. "...You're supposed to say blue."

Starscream dropped his helm to his servos. "I wish I didn't care about you so much, Skywarp," he growled. "Because you are so stupid it's embarrassing by association.

"Sorry Warp," Thundercracker sighed next to him. "But if he says that now it means it's the truth."

"At least he cares about me." Skywarp shrugged, happy enough.

 

* * *

 

When the updated equipment finally arrived Starscream bolted to the medbay. In just a few hours this could be added to the list of ailments he had survived and conquered. It would be further testament to how superior he was, that he had harboured such a glitch and hadn't once risked the security of his faction.

"Any changes?" Hook asked, still adjusting some of the equipment when he came in. With him was Bonecrusher. Starscream hoped he was only present because Scrapper had ordered him to help with the heavy lifting, and not because Hook had chosen him as an assistant for his treatment.

"No," he answered, warily avoiding Bonecrusher as he sauntered over to take a look at what Shockwave had sent them. "Why is Bonecrusher here? The last thing I need is his hamfisted motor functions near my processor."

Bonecrusher snorted aggressively, like a retro-bull about to charge. "To guard the door. Megatron's orders."

A spike a fear shot through him, "What's Megatron got to do with this?"

"Not much, Starscream," announced a voice that turned the fear into dread. "Just curiosity. Hook, Bonecrusher, you may leave."

"Don't leave!" Starscream yelped, and felt his humiliation double at the smirks on the engineers' faces as they, of course, obeyed Megatron and left him to his fate.

"I don't want to be left alone with you." He told Megatron, unable to stay silent and stoic.

"Why ever not?" Megatron stepped out of the dark corner he had been hiding in like a complete creep and began to approach.

"You make me uncomfortable." Starscream managed, feeling like he was finally learning to manage his glitch with careful word play. Megatron continued to drift closer, and before Starscream knew it he was blurting, "Being close to you makes me uncomfortable."

"Why is that?" Megatron purred, and he was so _so_ pleased with himself. He knew exactly what he was doing. He just wanted to watch Starscream squirm.

"Because... you intimidate me." Starscream's breath stuttered through clenched denta. He had the self-preservation to match every step forward of Megatron's with a step back of his own.

Megatron arched a brow. "And you don't like that?"

Starscream wanted to swallow Hook's scanner, jab it down his throat so it would be impossible for him to say the next part, his denta clenched with the strain not to.

"No. I like- I like it. A lot."

"Starscream," Megatron murmured in a playfully scandalised voice. "I'm flattered."

"RAGH!" Starscream screamed in frustration, "Get your stupid handsome face away from me before I kiss it!"

The amusement vanished from Megatron's face.

Humiliation burned through Starscream's frame and lit up his cheeks. He was just so _sick_ of having to pour his internals out to the stupid, age old, immature crush he really, _really_ should have grown out of somewhere in the last four millions years but _hadn't_ , that he grabbed the nearest, heaviest piece of equipment, and launched it with force at Megatron's 'stupidly handsome' helm.

He hit the corner of his helmet with a clunk. Megatron's optics brightened with his surprise, his impending reaction thrown off.

Starscream didn't wait for him to recover. He ran, shouting in fright when Megatron shifted as though to follow. He sprinted until he was out in the corridor and then transformed, flying past Hook and Bonecrusher. He didn't look back to see if he was being followed.

 

* * *

 

Maybe the Autobots would have use for a mute Decepticon air commander? Was the thought he consoled himself with as he languished away in his quarters, sure in the knowledge that Megatron would never let them fix his glitch now.

It was like Megatron liked watching him suffer- found some perverse sort of glee from it probably.

His pity party only lasted the one day. Hook appeared in the evening, alone and pushing a full tables worth of equipment.

"I don't want to get my hopes up." Starscream said honestly, looking between Hook and the equipment. "Where is Megatron?"

"Not here." Hook promised. "He suggested this would be better dealt with in the privacy of your own quarters."

"That doesn't sound like Megatron."

"No, it doesn't." Hook agreed. "It's late Screamer. Are you going to let me do this, or do you want to spend the rest of your life embarrassing yourself?"

With a grumble, Starscream let him in.

"I think you're lying", he said anyway. "Megatron has sent you to do something worse to my processor. Are you going to lobotomise me?"

"I wish he _had_ ordered that." Hook sighed.

 

* * *

 

"Lie." Skywarp challenged.

More at ease than he had been in days, Starscream inflated his chest and announced, "Megatron is a brilliant strategist and leader."

"Ain't that true?" Skywarp teased.

Starscream scowled and brushed him away, "Multiply Forty seven by eighty and the result is three thousand eight hundred." He said for clarification.

Skywarp stared at him blankly, lips pursed.

Starscream waited.

"...No it's not!" Skywarp exclaimed excitedly after finally calculating it in his own processor. "You _are_ cured."

"And you, as ever, remain an idiot," Starscream replied unkindly.

"I liked you better before." Skywarp shrugged, "and since that was a more honest you, I'm just gonna assume your mean streak is compensation for emotional vulnerabilities."

He walked off before Starscream could contradict him, or really even come to grips with a stunning moment of observation from Skywarp. He grumbled to himself resentfully, thinking he'd get his payback when they ran manoeuvres tomorrow.

His com pinged. He checked, and then wanted throw himself out to sea when he saw who it was.

Megatron; with a summons to the throne room.

 

* * *

 

"How are you feeling, Starscream?"

The low drawl resonated about the empty room. The speaker sat in the shadow of his own high backed throne, only sprawled legs and a cold crimson gaze distinguishable in the darkness. The lights in here were usually dimmed, but not this much. It could mean one of two things, either Megatron was recovering from an overcharge, or he wanted an ominous atmosphere to maximise intimidation.

"Brooding, glorious leader?" He asked joyfully, ruining the grim setting as he skipped lightly across the floor, heels clicking out a staccato rhythm.

Megatron leant out of the shadow, glaring, "Yourself again, I see."

"You're disappointed." Starscream pouted, confidence rebooted enough that he could finally say what he liked to Megatron without turning into a stuttering mess over the secrets he might spill.

A shoulder lifted in a half-shrug. "On the contrary, I rather prefer you like this. Why else would I send Hook to repair you?"

"I don't know, my _lord_. I would never presume to understand such advanced methods," Starscream purred, sarcastically sycophantical.

Megatron's dark helm tilted, then a servo lifted off the arm rest. One finger curled and beckoned. A conflict of feelings dominated Starscream's frame as he glared, fuel pump skipping a beat at Megatron's cool authority.

"Starscream," Megatron called, beckoning again.

Starscream ambled closer, but still it didn't satisfy Megatron. A digit pointed at the space right at his pedes, and Starscream bit back a sigh of despair as he was forced to ascend the dais where the throne sat and stand before his leader.

Megatron looked up from the throne, fist pressed to his cheek as he contemplated him. "You've shared some interesting opinions this last week, have you not?"

Starscream's throat constricted, not sure why he still felt so high-strung. The glitch was gone. A simple conversation had no way of harming him now, and past embarrassments could easily be rectified.

"Under duress. Yes."

"But it's gone now?"

"Yes." Starscream said with irritation.

"Or at least, you believe it is." Megatron settled back against the seat, a smug curl to his lips.

A chill dripped down Starscream's backstrut at that knowing, victorious sprawl of his leader's -and not just because of how distracting those thick, armoured thighs of his where.

He swallowed, "...Yes."

Megatron stroked his chin, "And what if I were to tell you that the glitch was only partially removed?"

"It's impossible." He hissed, ignoring a little spike of panic. "I- it hasn't affected me since Hook removed it. You must be lying."

"Why would I lie?"

"To screw with me, I don't know?" Starscream snapped, backing down from the dais.

"Ah, ah, _ah_ ," Megatron waved a digit, "Stay where you are. I said 'partially removed'. I had Hook keep a little piece of it for myself."

Starscream stumbled on the steps, wanting to storm away but not without knowing what Megatron had done. "For you?"

"You can lie." Megatron agreed, fanged denta glistening when the corner of his mouth pulled into a smirk. "To everyone but _me_."

"No I," Starscream traced back their conversation. He was sure he had- he had been anything but truthful. He had-

"I'll ask you again," Megatron said slowly, "How do you feel?"

"Angry." Starscream snarled, wanting to take Megatron's inflated helm off. " _Humiliated_ , and aroused anyway-"

"Aroused? How interesting." Megatron looked infinitely pleased, thighs spreading a little more, "Come closer. Why don't you come sit in my lap?"

Starscream's optics flared with horror. It was a rhetorical, sarcastic question, but still, he was gasping, "I'd like nothing more to sit on your ridiculous thighs but I'm not going to, _can-head_! I'm furious at you! You lied to me!"

"And now you know how it feels."

"Fix it!" He shouted, pointing at him. "Fix _me_. You're supposed to have the moral high ground, aren't you?! You're supposed to be the better mech!? But you're just using this as an opportunity to get under my panels!?"

Megatron expression wavered, "Starscream..."

"I'm leaving!" And he was, stamping down the steps, "I can't speak to you like this! You've hurt my feelings!"

Oh Primus, he couldn't even storm out with his dignity.

Megatron looked utterly poleaxed, and Starscream's tanks rolled with sickening mortification. He ran the length of the throne room, lips pressed firmly together as Megatron stood and called after him.

He didn't stay. He couldn't risk saying worse.

 

* * *

 

Hook appeared at his quarters again, equipment in tow. Starscream _almost_ didn't let him in.

"There, all done." The engineer finished, closed his diagnostics up and went to subspace the medical file.

Starscream snatched it off him before he could. " _I'll_ be taking that."

Hook rolled his optics, but raised his servos in defeat, "Understandable."

Starscream poured over the data once he'd left but it looked like, this time, the glitch really had been removed.

 

* * *

 

He was more than willing to let the past week fade into ambiguity. The rest of the faction appeared to have forgotten, even Skywarp, frequently over-involved in his private life, seemed content to leave well enough alone.

He was passing some time in the command centre, watching ocean waves crash on one of the surface camera feeds, when someone disturbed the air around his wings by passing close behind him. He turned his helm, saw grey, and scowled.

"No."

"Starscream," Megatron sounded annoyed, "Meet me outside."

Starscream glared at his vague reflection in the monitor screen, "Why, so you can humiliate me again?"

"If I wanted to achieve such a thing I wouldn't bother relocating this conversation to a less populated area," Megatron gestured to the semi-full command centre, "but by all means, stay where you are, I'd be happy to-'

Starscream got up, "You'd like that wouldn't you," he hissed, but trudged his way to the door, "Make it look like it was my own doing-"

Megatron simply sighed and followed- like _he_ had any right to be tired of this back and forth.

"What do you want?" He snapped when they were out in the corridor.

"Hook removed the rest of the glitch then?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know."

"I'll take that as a yes, then."

"Disappointed, are we?" Starscream mock sympathised.

"Disappointed that my second is once again a lying deceitful snake? What do you think?"

"Shouldn't have had me repaired then, should you?"

"I'm glad I did."

Starscream pulled a face. "What?!"

"Removed the glitch." Megatron confirmed, "I'm appreciative of the enlightenments in regards to you, but I do prefer you, to be you."

"...Now _you're_ the one who's glitching." Starscream tutted, mockingly sympathetic.

"I'm repaying your honesty," Megatron lifted his helm high.

"Oh really?"

Megatron stiffened, optic twitching, "Yes."

Starscream stepped closer, "Then tell me. How serious were you about asking me to sit on your lap?"

Megatron beckoned him with a digit. Starscream stepped closer, turning his helm when Megatron bowed, expecting something to be murmured into his audial in confidence.

A huge servo caught his chin and turned it. He blinked in surprise when a mouth pushed against his. Lips opened and closed wetly over his bottom lip, and Starscream found his optics fluttering closed, struts liquidating when a big warm servo circled around the back of his neck.

It broke with a crisp noise, Megatron exhaling over his damp lips. He opened his optics, blinking stupidly.

"That serious." Megatron answered, thumb brushing the edge of his audial, "Would you like to take me up on the offer?"

Without the pesky glitch, Starscream could say whatever he liked.

"Yeah," he stumbled over his own glossa, nodding his helm with shaky enthusiasm. " _Yes_ , I would."

His reward for truth was another kiss, and much more to come.

 


End file.
